EF1 Tornado — Rusk, Texas

2025-10-28 · near Kilgore, Rusk, Texas

Event narrative

The is a continuation of the Southern Gregg County EF-1 tornado. This tornado remained EF-1 in strength with estimated maximum winds near 94 mph as it exited Harris Street Park in Kilgore, and entered a residential area when it crossed Florence and Monroe Streets. Most of the damage in this area consisted of snapped and uprooted trees which damaged a few homes. Other homes sustained minor shingle loss. The tornado generally followed Monroe Street while crossing Martin, South, and Simmons Streets before lifting near the intersection of Hunter Street and Broadway Blvd.

Wider weather episode

A large upper level trough dropped southeast across the Plains and into the Four State Region during the afternoon and evening hours of October 28th, reinforcing a strong cold front southeast into Northeast Texas, Southwest Arkansas, and North Louisiana during the evening and overnight hours. A very warm, moist, and unstable air mass developed ahead of the front during the afternoon, within a zone of strong wind shear ahead of the approaching trough. Strong forcing ahead of the trough and along a warm front contributed to the development of scattered severe thunderstorms across portions of East Texas and North Louisiana along and south of the I-20 corridor. Two isolated tornadoes briefly touched down across Northern Smith County near Lindale and along the Gregg/Rusk County line in the city of Kilgore, with additional instances of damaging winds observed as well before the storms shifted into Northwest Louisiana.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.3703, -94.8773)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1294931. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.